Twitter – the future of Law Enforcement?

Unless you’ve spent a fortnight locked in a darkened room without access to television, Internet or radio, the chances are that you’ll have heard of the now-infamous “Twitter Joke Trial”.

Paul Chambers, a Twitter user, was arrested by four police officers and tried under the communications act.

For an ill-judged joke about a bomb in an airport, Mr Chambers was found guilty and fined £1,000 in a move that’s left bloggers and legal rights activists up in arms.

But not every country is using Twitter in such a divisive way.

A number of blogs have run with the story of a police force in Holland who are relying more and more on Twitter for leads and information.

Police chief Gerard Goossens has claimed that a recent investigation received over thirty leads through social media, and is convinced that Twitter and Facebook will eventually become more useful to police forces than television and radio campaigns.

So what do you think? Would you respond better to a crimestoppers Twitter or Facebook page than good old fashioned Crimewatch? Or do you think that there’s no substitute for going round knocking on doors?